Bay College’s Luke Mattson, front, grabs a rebound from Dakota County Technical College’s Piontek Young, left, during their game played Wednesday in Escanaba. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Austin Hemmingson)

ESCANABA — A valiant comeback effort came up a little short for the Bay College men’s basketball team here Wednesday night as it dropped an 82-71 basketball decision to Dakota County (Minnesota) Technical College in a National Junior College Athletic Association Region 13 opener.

The victory enables the Blue Knights (19-10) to host United Tribes Technical College (Minnesota) or Bottineau (North Dakota) in the regional championship game Sunday. The Norse finish their season at 19-10.

This marked the sixth all-time meeting between the teams, with the visiting team winning each time.

“This is two years in a row that this happened. That’s crazy,” Dakota County coach Peter Olafeso said. “We play well here. Coach (Matt) Johnson is a great coach. We’re just glad to be on top right now.”

The Norse trailed 47-30 at halftime, then began to whittle away at their deficit.

Bay eventually climbed within 69-65 on a jump shot from top of the key by freshman guard Marcus Harris with 4:50 left.

Two area players played in the game but didn’t score. Negaunee sophomore Luke Mattson started and played 17 minutes, grabbing four rebounds and adding an assist and a steal. Ishpeming sophomore Dondre Yohe played 11 minutes and had an assist.